Big guns from small towns of Myrtleford and Cobram ready to battle in AWFA soccer cup final

CLUTCHING THE PRIZE: Myrtleford's Matt Park and Cobram’s Steve Cigano both want their hands on the cup on Sunday. Picture: SIMON BAYLISS

The chance at back-to-back cup final wins has the town of Myrtleford buzzing and already painted blue.

Co-coach Matt Park said after the pain caused by the lockout at Carter Holt Harvey earlier this year, success on the soccer field has lifted spirits.

“When you’re from a smaller community, things like that can get the town back up, especially with what happened at Myrtleford this year - it’s good for us to be in the news for some positive news,” he said.

Park missed last year’s final through injury so he was looking forward to his chance at winning the silverware, and said Jesse Stevens was also a chance to come straight back into the team from injury.

Myrtleford co-coach Matt Park

“If he gets through a full session tonight (Thursday) at training, he’ll definitely be putting his hand up for selection – he’s such a quality player - if he’s putting his hand up, it’s hard to say ‘no you’re sitting on the bench’,” he said. “It’s time for me and Jayden (Vescio, co-coach) to step up and put in some big performances.”

Will Dennis was also keen for a good performance in a big game after his star player win on Wednesday, which Park said was well-deserved after a year of hard work on fitness and his touch.

Cobram’s Steve Cigano said his team was happy to go in as the underdog.

Cobram’s Steve Cigano

“They are the team to beat, they didn’t finish on top for no reason - we’ll try a few things to negate their strengths the best we can in order to get the win,” he said.

“The motivation’s always there, we are quite a competitive bunch and we don’t like to lose so last year stung.”

The Roar qualified for the final with an extra time goal in the semi, but the extra minutes in the legs was not posing an issue.

“Everybody was pretty sore up until Tuesday to be fair and we’ll try to win it in 90 minutes, but if it goes to extra time, we’re confident we’ve got the ability to win the game there,” Cigano said.

“Everyone’s available, everyone’s fit so we have a full complement of players to pick from.”